Veteran sports writer Jim Utter covers NASCAR for The Charlotte Observer and its racing site, ThatsRacin.com. In this space, Jim writes about all things NASCAR and other forms of racing which may also be relevant ... or not.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Last season's surprise Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne, was asked on Friday why he thought Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow's publicly professed religious beliefs were so polarizing to some people. Bayne is also very public in professing the role his religious beliefs play in his life, including his profession as a race car driver.

Here was Bayne's answer:

"Well, it's polarizing to me because it's something different that I think our world needs and I think it desires, and so when you look at somebody and you see something different, you wonder what that is, then I think Tim Tebow has made that very clear what that is, and I think that's our mission is to make it very clear.If we look different from the world, it's because of Jesus.

"I think he's done a lot in my life.I can't speak for Jamie.I've seen some things that he's seen the same way.It's what we're here for.I started racing for me, I started racing because I wanted to be a driver and I wanted to be successful and I wanted to win races and I wanted to have the most followers on Twitter or the most fans or whatever it is.

"But I think that's changed over the past few years.I got to go to something that was really incredible this year called Passion, which is for 18 to 25 year olds, and it really got me fired up to see what this is all about, that it's not about me, it never has been.It's not about what I do here, but it's about what happens for the kingdom.I think this year I'm a lot more fired up about storing my treasures in heaven instead of here.

"I think it's a really great thing that Tim Tebow is staying firm in what he believes in.He's not letting that change him.I read an article today in USA Today that talked about that, and I can see how that would be really hard when you have that much flak that you're catching, whether it's good or it's bad, if people are talking about it so much, it would be easy to change and waver, but I think the reason he doesn't is because it's real.I think Jesus is something that can really change lives, and I think that if we believe all that he says he is and we believe like we say we do, then we'll look different just like he does and like we're trying to do here."